Description |
272 pages ; 22 cm |
Note |
Includes index. |
Contents |
A Brief Examination as to Why This Book Is Hopeless (and a Briefer Examination as to Why It Might Not Be) -- A Quaint and Curious Volume of (Destined-to-Be) Forgotten Lore -- But That's the Way I Like It, Baby. I Don't Want to Live Forever. -- "Merit" -- Burn thy Witches -- The World That Is Not There -- Don't Tell Me What Happens. I'm Recording It. -- Sudden Death (Over Time) -- The Case Against Freedom -- But What If We're Right? -- Only the Penitent Man Shall Pass. |
Summary |
We live in a culture of casual certitude. This has always been the case, no matter how often that certainty has failed. Though no generation believes there's nothing left to learn, every generation unconsciously assumes that what has already been defined and accepted is (probably) pretty close to how reality will be viewed in perpetuity. And then, of course, time passes. Ideas shift. Opinions invert. What once seemed reasonable eventually becomes absurd, replaced by modern perspectives that feel even more irrefutable and secureuntil, of course, they don't. But What If We're Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock music, five hundred years from today? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? How seriously should we view the content of television? Are all sports destined for extinction? Is it possible that the greatest artist of our era is currently unknown (orweirder stillwidely known, but entirely disrespected)? Is it possible that we "overrate" democracy? And perhaps most disturbing, is it possible that we've reached the end of knowledge? |
Subject |
Certainty.
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Perspective (Philosophy)
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Forecasting.
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Social prediction.
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Added Title |
But what if we are wrong? |
ISBN |
9780399184123 |
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0399184120 |
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